Call made for more government help for sector
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Training, funding urged to raise local standards
The Thailand Energy Service Company Association wants the government to provide more training programmes and financial support to local firms to lift energy service standards to international levels, a forum was told.
The issue was raised by Arthit Vechakij, president of Thai ESCO Association, at a roundtable talk on Wednesday organised by the Clinton Foundation, the British Embassy and the Energy Ministry .
Arthit said that the standard of energy service in Thailand was ranked in the intermediate level and it needed further improvement to meet international standards.
The government, therefore, should support local operators in energy service by providing a full range of training programmes with experts and specialists in this business sector to enhance their ability.
Local energy-service companies could not shoulder the high cost of running training programmes. The government needs to be involved with this process, he said.
Additionally, the government should create regulations and standard certification, similar to the ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) implemented for other industries, he said.
With such regulation and certification, the energy service companies would have more confidence to do business in long run.
He added that there was more room to grow in the energy service business in the country and in Asean countries.
At the same time, energy savings were also another mainstream in this business.
Underlining this point, Kasikornbank, Krungthai Bank, CIMB Thai Bank and Export-Import Bank of Thailand also provide loans or related financial packages for local energy-service companies.
However, public awareness of the energy-service business remained limited, Arthit said, calling for the government’s campaign to raise this issue among people. Currently, there are only 30 operators in this business sector and only 10 of those are members of Thai ESCO Association.
Meanwhile, Danai Egkamol, director of the Bureau of Energy Regulation and Conservation under the Energy Ministry, said the energy-service business was a key success of the 20-Year Energy Efficiency Development Plan (2011-30).
Under this plan, Thailand must lower energy intensity by 25 per cent by 2030 from the 2010 level, or by 23.5 per cent by 2030. Danai added that the ministry already had arranged financial support for this business via the ESCO Fund of about Bt500 million. Meanwhile, local financial institutes are also providing loans to energy service companies.
Apart from those organisations, the Asian Development Bank has also expressed its interest in providing financial support. However, Danai noted that the Thai government had not reached such an agreement with ADB.
